Finances, school damage report top today's agenda for Jefferson School Board

As the Jefferson Parish School Board meets today for the second time in as many weeks, they do so facing myriad hurdles: a precarious budget verging on bankruptcy, more than 80 schools with varying degrees of damage and continuing uncertainty about the state of their work force and student body.

The board will meet today at noon at the state Department of Education office in Baton Rouge and plans to meet weekly until the planned reopening of schools the week of Oct. 3.

As of Tuesday, school system spokesman Jeff Nowakowski said reports showed: 28 schools suffered no damage; 14 had isolated damage; 18 had "fairly moderate damage; " 14 suffered "serious damage; " and 9 were not useable. Overall, 42, or roughly half, of the system's schools are useable while those with "fairly moderate" or isolated damage could open later in the school year, Nowakowski said.

Today, the board is expected to decide the fate of the nine most damaged schools, which could include razing the campuses, Nowakowski said. The schools are: East Jefferson and Bonnabel high schools, Woodmere, Solis, Ruppel, Ames, Lincoln and Shirley Johnson/Gretna Park elementary schools. The ninth school is an adult education building in Gretna that was being converted into a magnet high school for the 2006-07 school year.

Nowakowski said the system is still uncertain about the composition of its student body because of the number of Jefferson families who have relocated as well as students from more devastated parishes who might choose to attend Jefferson schools. Nowakowski said he learned Tuesday in a meeting with Federal Emergency Management Agency officials that 6,000 students from the devastated region have already enrolled in Baton Rouge schools.

Depending on the number of students who return to Jefferson, one option could be "platooning, " a setup in which students attend a school for a morning schedule while another set of students would attend an afternoon shift. Monitoring enrollment when school begins will be a high priority, Nowakowski said. "We will have to keep track of students from literally the moment they hit the door."

Jefferson teachers, too, have been displaced by Hurricane Kartrina. The system is asking employees to register at www.louisianaschools.net to inform the system of their whereabouts and if they plan to return to work.

So far, about 1,300 of the system's 7,000 employees have registered that they will return to their jobs, he said. The system would like returning teachers to get back into their classrooms the week of Sept. 26. Employees with questions are directed to call (866) 563-6559.

In addition, the system is pleading for more federal dollars to avoid bankruptcy once its $24 million in reserves dries up. The reserves will cover two more payroll cycles, one on Thursday and another on Sept.
30, Nowakowski said. Officials are hoping a request by state Superintendent Cecil Picard for $2.4 billion in federal money will help keep New Orleans area school systems financially viable.

o The list of nine schools with significant damage could change. For example, Ginny Dufrene, principal at Paul Solis Elementary, said her school could be up and running after some relatively minor cleanup and roof repair.

Officials said parts of the damage report were prepared using aerial views of the schools instead of walk-through tours. A visit to Solis showed that while debris was scattered throughout the campus, the inside of the school is largely in tact.